Tokul Ride Recap

This past Saturday I made a snap decision to go ride the mountain bike. I was told not to run or ski but the doctor said nothing about riding! I had 30 minutes to finish my breakfast, clean and lube the bike, check tire and shock pressure, and find my riding clothes. Yes, I said find them. It’s been that long since I used them.

All my rushing around was in vain since Jim forgot his helmet and had to turn around which gave me time to explore the vastness of Fall City. We parked at the parking lot on the old railroad grade, instead of the ball fields right outside of town. Right away it was clear no one knew the trails by heart so we just winged it.

It was quite muddy and our brakes squeaked for most of the ride. About 45 minutes in Jason told me my rear tire was going flat. I was shocked since I have not had issues with my tires since the unspeakable ride which will not be mentioned. I pumped it up hoping I had burped it but a short while later it was flat. I removed the tube which had been taped to my seat post for months, put it in and pumped and pumped and I was getting no where. Not using my own pump I thought it was just slow. I was wrong my new tube had a slice in it.

Jason lent me a latex tube , which of course increased my speed for the rest of the ride while saving me grams of rotating weight. Now that the tube was in and full of air we were back on our way. As a result of the flat tire my gloves and hands were soaked and black with mud. I had to wash them multiple times to get them clean.

The rest of the ride went smoothly with only a few mistakes on everyones part. Jim almost went swimming in a swamp, Jason almost face planted, Jeff slipped and slided from root to root, while I decided to hit a tree on the last descent, tearing up my shoulder and hand. All in all it was a great day of riding. At the car I offered everyone chocolate chip cookies and the ride was complete.